In This City We Fight For
by animerival
Summary: All sorts of stories set in the LoK world, about any character and covering any genre. 1. Jinora muses about what it means to be one of the world's only airbenders. 2. Wonder where the posters of Tahno the Fire Ferrets used for practice came from? 3. Korra decides to have a little fun with Tahno before she restores his bending. 4. The Tokka aftermath of Yakone's bloodbending.
1. Pressure

Jinora was the first to realize the magnitude of her and her siblings' situation. After all, they were younger than her and cared more about having fun than contemplating serious life matters. But when Jinora was old enough to take out a flying bison by herself, she began to think about what it meant to be one of just a handful of airbenders in the entire world. Across vast oceans, throughout gigantic land masses, benders existed in multitudes, but they answered to the elements of water, earth, and fire. There were precisely four airbenders out of hundreds of thousands of people, and the only ones that could join their ranks were Pema's unborn child and the current Avatar, Korra.

If any nation had to depend on only a few people for survival, it was best it was the Air Nomads, Jinora mused. They could stand up to the pressure of having to survive for the sake of the world's balance. Daily meditation, studying ancient philosophies, and practicing airbending techniques all served to keep the Nomads peaceful and level-headed. For someone like Jinora, who was intelligent and thoughtful enough to understand the high value of airbenders, these things were necessary to relieve the pressure of being born at such a critical time in the history of airbenders.

If anything happened to her father or siblings, what Fire Lord Sozin had attempted so long ago would finally be accomplished. Tenzin was getting older and if Ikki and Meelo's current personalities were any indicator, neither of them would ever learn to take their situation seriously. That left it to Jinora to be careful, to take every precaution for her and her siblings' survival. She constantly volunteered to babysit Meelo and whenever Ikki's ideas got a little too outlandish, she would put a stop to them or get one of their parents to.

It would be one of their not-so-distant descendants that would one day be declared the Avatar's reincarnation. Depending on how long Korra and the next two Avatars lived- well, it was unlikely, but Jinora might even see her great-granddaughter or great-great-nephew given the sacred title. And Jinora couldn't think about that without also considering the unspoken duty she and her siblings were given. It was the same duty Pema happily accepted when she married Tenzin. They were all expected to marry and have plenty of children to help replenish the airbending population. Jinora was beginning to notice boys and think about how attractive she found different males, but knowing that marriage was basically a requirement for her made the prospect that much less romantic. This was one reason she sought refuge in historical romances, filled with lovers whose only motivation was passion for each other. They never had to think of the needs of the world before their personal desires and it was beautifully selfish.

Air Nomads, however, were not selfish. They could withstand any amount of pressure. They could handle upholding the world's harmony because such teachings were the pillars of their culture. Yes, it was a heavy burden on Jinora's shoulders, but she never doubted she could handle it.


	2. Posters and Pretending

Korra blasted the pictures strung up on a wire across the practice room. The flames her fists emitted made a feast of the paper and ink, distorting the original image past recognition until only the blackened edges were left. One grey eye was the last visible feature, glinting proudly at Korra until the fire disposed of it as well.

Her aim was impeccable and her control had greatly improved. Mako and Bolin noticed this and high-fived her, one on each side. She grinned, relished the feeling of being a vital part of their trio. She could almost forget the real reason she gathered all those posters.

They hadn't been hard to get. Tahno had his face plastered on the walls of half the establishments in Republic City. When Korra had half a dozen shoved in her cloak, she crouched by the lake and spread them in front of her. The idea was to absorb all their details until the ebb and flow of the lake claimed the posters for itself.

Korra wasn't _infatuated _or _intrigued _or any such romantic garbage, she was sure of that. But still- but still- something about the arrogant waterbender she'd only seen once made him impossible to shove out of her mind. In the restaurant they'd met in, she couldn't look away despite Bolin's warning; actually, his worry just made her hope even more that Tahno would approach them. He had, and they'd exchanged words with double-meanings, her tone daring, his alluring.

It wasn't like she had any good excuse to search out the man, so she took the posters instead, meditating on them by the lakeside like a good airbender-in-training. _Why?_ she asked them silently.

The answer suddenly came. Simply put, that brief encounter with Tahno was the most invigorating experience she'd had since moving to Republic City (save a few terrifying minutes with a psychopath in a mask, but that was really in a different category altogether).

Figuring this out gave her a sense of triumph, but then she'd heard the voices of her fellow Fire Ferrets. She cringed and lifted her hands to waterbend the posters out to sea, but it had been too late.

Mako and Bolin stared down at the pictures of Tahno in confusion. "Uh... Korra... What are you doing with those?" Bolin finally asked.

"They're for practice," she blurted out. "You know. Target practice."

They accepted the explanation easily enough and liked the idea, so that was why the posters were pinned up at eye level for the following morning's practice session. But even though they were reduced to smoky ashes, Korra's feelings remained unchanged, and she looked forward intensely to her match against the White Falls Wolfbats.

"I'll go toe-to-toe with you any day, pretty boy," Korra muttered, and she could almost see Tahno standing in front of her with his taunting smirk, willing her to prove it.


	3. About That Offer

"And I thought the work Tahno put into styling his hair was impressive," Korra muttered, surveying the colorful, delicate flower gardens in front of the former pro-bender's home. There was, in fact, a gardener there already this early in the morning, trimming the dark green hedges that lined the walkway to the huge front door. Since Korra planned on surprising Tahno, she ducked out of sight and reached the back of the house in just a second with a blast of her new airbending.

Now she had the task of deciding which window to burst through. There was just no way pretty boy lived here by himself and Korra didn't want another awkward arrest with Chief Beifong, now that they were friends. On the other hand, patience and observational skills weren't things often- okay, ever- associated with Avatar Korra. So she picked a window at random, jetted up to it, and pushed it open. She tumbled inside, glad the room was empty. She was still getting the hang of airbending and most of her landings weren't exactly graceful.

Korra left the window open in case an angry maid, for example, caused her to need a hasty escape route. She seemed to be in a guest bedroom; the furniture was nice but sparse and untouched. She pressed her ear to the door and closed her eyes in concentration. Nothing.

The doorknob turned easily and she darted into the hallway, looking left and right. She heard faint scuffling a few doors down and then a door started to open. She backed into the guest bedroom again and stood against the wall with the door cracked, waiting to see who would appear. A few moments later, Tahno padded by, his hair still a mess, dark circles under his eyes. Korra blasted the door open and tackled him.

They ended up on the carpeted hallway floor, Korra straddling him with a satisfied smirk on her face. His eyes had widened in shock but when he saw who it was, he forced a more composed look on his face. "Adding breaking and entering to your resume, Uhvatar?"

"Are you really complaining?" She leaned down so she could whisper directly into his ear. He raised an eyebrow and peered into her shining blue eyes, trying to deduce where this was headed. He, personally, had a few ideas...

"So, is that offer for private lessons still open?" she asked.

Tahno's body became rigid. He'd said that in a different era of his life, when he'd still been a bender; was Korra so cruel as to rub his lack of ability in his face? Maybe it had been weeks, but he still struggled every day to accept his new identity.

Of course, when he'd said that, he hadn't _really _been talking about pro-bending lessons. And their current position suggested Korra probably wasn't either.

"Or do you think there's nothing you could teach a fully-fledged Avatar?"

"Oh please, Uhvatar. You still have a lot to learn." He raised his head slightly, his lips nearing hers.

"Then I guess you'll be needing this after all," she grinned, placing her thumb on his forehead.

That... was not what Tahno had been expecting. Unless this was some weird type of foreplay popular in the Southern Water Tribe, Tahno wasn't sure what Korra was doing with her eyes closed and her thumb pressed firmly against his skin. Then, her eyes opened, completely aglow. After a moment, she returned to her normal self, and lifted herself off Tahno.

He was a little miffed at this, but he was mostly focused on figuring out just what Korra had done to him. He felt different, but in a familiar way, which didn't make any sense to him.

She reached behind her as Tahno sat up and threw a waterskin at him. He caught in and gave her a blank look. "Get with the program, pretty boy. I just gave you your bending back."

Korra definitely wasn't cruel enough to lie about that, but Tahno was becoming more and more convinced that this was a weird dream. Dreams were the only place he could still bend, so he wasn't surprised when he pulled a small stream of water from the skin, swirling it around his hand. Korra noticed his lack of excitement and frowned. "Um, Tahno? You can bend again. Aren't you, I don't know, happy about that?"

Wait.

Wait.

Her glowing eyes, that thumb thing, the actual chill of the water against his skin, the fact that he could remember waking up- this was no dream.

He shot up and emptied the rest of the waterskin's contents, sending out a water whip and drawing the water back again. After a few more moves that narrow hallway barely allowed, he returned the water to its container and looked at Korra. "How?"

"I'm the _Avatar_," she shrugged, emphasizing the proper pronunciation of her title. "Heroic stuff is just what I do."

Korra and her friends had just docked at Republic City the previous day. She knew she had a lot of work ahead of her, reversing Amon's technique on hundreds of people. But there had been one person she wanted to visit before word got out that everyone could be healed. She could never get his heartfelt plea out of her head: _"You gotta get him for me." _Well, she had, and now she could give him something that was probably a hundred times better in his eyes: his bending back.

And doing it in a teasing, fun way like this had been the right choice.

"... Thank you."

Still, she hadn't expected him to sound so genuinely grateful. The tone didn't suit him.

"Looks like you owe me now, huh? Stop cheating in pro-bending and we'll call it even," Korra declared.

"Hmmph. I don't think so, Uhvater." Arrogance again saturated his voice.

"Why? You don't think you can win without cheating?"

He shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Sure, I won't cheat. But as for 'owing' you... My payment will be those private lessons you just inquired about." He strode forward until his toes were touching Korra's and smirked down at her. She didn't give him an inch.

"Fix your hair first, pretty boy. And then we'll talk."

Tahno wrapped his fingers around his limp bangs and hid a grimace. Yeah, it was time to do something about that. "Deal."


	4. In the Courtroom

**A/N: Thanks, followers and reviewers, for encouraging me. I always love to hear what you guys have to say!**

To have to experience the two most terrible things in the world in the space of a minute was a cruel twist of fate.

The first was the bloodbending itself. Sokka lost autonomy of his body all at once and it was like every organ in him was protesting through immense pain. He was twisting up unnaturally and could barely breathe.

The second was seeing Toph in an identical situation. Her feet were curling up, trying to the reach the floor, as the bloodbender forced the police chief to hand over the key to his cuffs. Her face was contorted with both pain and fury as she tried to resist his forbidden tactics.

Being knocked out the next moment was almost a relief.

When he came to, feeling as though he'd just been mauled by a platypus bear, it was all he could do to turn his head from his position on the floor, searching for Toph amidst all the other stirring bodies. He staggered to his feet and made his way to her, ignoring his aching muscles. He dropped down beside her and shook her shoulder gently. "Toph. Toph?" Panic colored his voice as his eyes swept over her body, lingering on her stomach. Finally, she groaned and sat up.

"Yakone!" she gasped and made to run after the villain, despite having no idea just where he'd gone, but Sokka held her back.

"It looks like Aang's already taken care of that," Sokka said, noticing the Avatar's distinct absence. "More importantly, are you okay?"

"Of _course _I'm okay, do you think they let the first wimp who walks through the academy's doors be chief of police?" She pushed his comforting arms away.

Ignoring the stubborn attitude that was Toph's natural state-of-mind, Sokka asked, "Is _she_ okay?" He tentatively placed a hand on her belly.

The way the color left Toph's face told him she hadn't yet thought about the baby within her. "She's fine," Toph muttered, but there was no certainty in her voice.

"Let me take you to a healer," Sokka begged and she grudgingly relented, though she didn't lean on him for support like he offered as they made their way outside the courtroom, where mostly everyone had awoken.

There was a clinic just a couple of streets over and a healer was able to see them immediately. She was shocked to hear what had happened with Yakone but was more concerned with checking on the unborn baby's health. For a long minute, she moved her water-covered hands over Toph's bare stomach, eyes closed in concentration. She smiled and announced, "The baby is fine." Sokka let out a relieved sigh.

"So, you're the father, Councilman Sokka?" the healer asked as Toph pulled her shirt down and her armor back on.

Sokka cringed and looked away. "Ah, no."

"Sorry for prying," the healer hastily added as Toph and Sokka took their leave.

They walked back to city hall to check on the situation with Yakone. When they were almost to the door, Toph said, "Thanks, Sokka. For worrying about me. Even if it wasn't necessary," she was sure to add.

He said it was no problem and they split off to their respective destinations. When Sokka reached the council room, the smile on his face faded and he leaned against the wall, glad no other members were around.

He didn't know who the father of Toph's baby was. She had refused to tell him or any of their friends and seemed upset whenever it was brought up, so eventually they let it go and just supported Toph as the weeks passed. Sokka really was worried about Toph. But when the time came and her baby was born, Sokka would be there for both Bei Fongs. This was his silent vow.


End file.
